This is a Facebook support group for rape victims of the prisons of the Islamic Republic of Iran. For the majority of Iranians being raped is a source of great shame. The social stigma is attached to the victims of rape, not its perpetrators. With the formation of this group we hope to make it possible to discuss rape and its consequences openly and without embarrassment, and to encourage the families to support and love rape victims, and bring a positive change in the views of Iranians who condemn and stigmatize them.

this brief [42 pages report as pdf] is base on extensive research carried out over a two-year period pointing to systematic, widespread, state-sponsored policies that place sexual torture, including rape, at the heart of the Islamic Republic’s judicial machinery and arms such as the Islamic Republic Guards Corps.It also delineates the wide-ranging forms of sexual torture practiced in prisons since the inception of the Islamic Republic. The most appalling practice remains ‘rape of virgins’ prior to execution. The Islamic Republic is the first state to justify and rationalize this form of torture in the name of religion …

Sexual violence is one of the most horrific weapons of war, an instrument of terror used against women. Yet huge numbers of men are also victims. In this harrowing report, Will Storr travels to Uganda to meet traumatised survivors, and reveals how male rape is endemic in many of the world’s conflicts

Of all the secrets of war, there is one that is so well kept that it exists mostly as a rumour. It is usually denied by the perpetrator and his victim. Governments, aid agencies and human rights defenders at the UN barely acknowledge its possibility. Yet every now and then someone gathers the courage to tell of it. …

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published May 2011 by Iran Human Rights Documentation Center (IranHRDC)

This report documents the ordeals of five former prisoners – two women and three men – who provide their first-hand accounts of being raped, witnessing rape or being threatened with rape during their detention in Iranian prisons.

All acts of rape are grave abuses of human rights. But the abuse takes on an added significance when the rapist is a public official. The UN’s Special Rapporteur on torture states that rape constitutes torture when it is carried out by public officials or happens at their instigation. International and regional human rights bodies have ruled that rape by officials always amounts to torture, and cannot be considered to be simply a common criminal act…”” thanks to Kate Allen from Amnesty International

“….In our culture, victims of rape suffer deep shame and depression. Moreover, the authorities made the situation very intimidating, such that rape victims were afraid to speak up. Even so, some of the rape victims came to see me, and consequently, some of them have been silenced or forced to leave the country. I do not even know how these people are doing or if they are recovering. ..””

01 July 2010/09 August 2010 – Persian2English –

speech given by Shahla Talebi, an Anthropology professor at Columbia University (New York City). The topic was “sexual tensions between the nation of Iran and its government.”

Talebi was imprisoned both during the Shah monarchy and the Islamic Republic regime. Her husband was a victim of the 1988 prison mass executions.

In her talk, she recalls one of her memories of the year 1981: the mother of a leftist activist reports her son’s ideological and religious views to the regime. Her son is consequently executed. Talebi explains the Iranian regime’s male dominated vision and approach …

…

Dr. Shahla Talebi continues with describing the difference between the rapes that occurred in Iranian prisons in the 1980′s and the rape of young men in prisons after the 2009 post-election protest:

During the 1980′s the regime still felt strong. It was of course aware of the threat by leftists and the Mujahedin. In fact, the regime thought it could seclude these groups easily from the rest of society.

As if these groups were an external entity, the regime regarded leftists and the Mujahedin as intruders who could be thrown out easily. That is why when they beat me inside the room, they told my husband outside the room that they were torturing his wife fiercely. They did not mean physical torture only. They wanted to make my husband believe that he was not an honorable man and thus they were permitted to do what they wanted to his wife. All this was to make a man feel not brave and honorable, without actually having to belittle him by calling him a woman.

What happened during the 1980′s was different from the events that took place during and after June 2009, because now the regime was positioned in a defensive situation. Its manly characteristics were questioned because part of society rose in opposition. This part of society could no longer be called intruders and strangers. Thus, the regime stopped questioning the honor of a man, and began to question a man’s sexuality. Men were treated the same as women in regards to rape. Do you remember the case of a man whose interrogators instructed the torturers to impregnate him?

When the intentions to impregnate a man is stated, the man is aware he is unable to become pregnant; nonetheless, the man is labelled as a woman incapable of bearing a child [an action intended to imply that the man is an incapable woman].

I would like to emphasize that by observing the transformation of the regime, we can see how it has become more fearful of losing its manly status. That is why it insists to rape men versus raping women like in its previous approach.

When he eagerly joined the mass street protests that followed Iran’s tainted June 12 presidential elections, Ibrahim Sharifi, 24, hoped only to add his voice to the hundreds of thousands of demonstrators demanding that the government nullify the results. He never imagined that he would eventually have a far greater impact, as the only person willing to speak publicly about the brutal treatment he was subjected to in prison, including rape and torture.

Interview with “Radio Farda”. This brave man is one of the people that was arrested after the presidential elections in Iran. After he was released from prison he managed to leave Iran, but before that he met Mr. Karroubi (presidential candidate and the person who took it apon himself to investigate rape and torture claims) and told him about what had happened to him. I didn’t have the heart to hear his own voice but I red his interview with “radio Farda”. Here is a brief retelling of his story
He is a student (computer and Italian language) and worked as a volunteer in Mr. Karroubi’s presidential election campaign. He was arrested after the elections and transferred to an unknown location (with blindfolds). During his stay there he was blindfolded all the time and had his hands tied behind his back apart from those times when they were given food.

During his 3-4 FAKE execution he starts protesting and tells his investigator (torturer): “there is no need for this behavior. If you are going to kill me than kill me”. At that point he gets kicked in his stomach several times, falls on the flour and vomits blod. After that the investigator tells another person who is in that room to “take this …. and make him pregnant”. They drag him away to another room and rape him. He wakes up in an unknown hospital/clinic. From there he is taken to the Sbalan highway and released there. After he gets home he contacts the police and maneges to file a complain about what has happened to him (without telling about the rape). After many difficulties he is told to “let this be…. the intelligence is behind this”. He is than advised to take contact with Mr. Karroubi which he does. During their meeting Karroubi notices “from my voice and how i was talking” that there is something he is not telling so he empties the room. After a long discussion this brave man, finally brakes his silence and tells Karroubi about what they had done to him and bursts into tears.

Later Sharifi is included in a list of people who were presented to a s.c. committee to find the truth. But this committee later announced that there were no proof of any rape in any of the cases that Mr. Karroubi had presented. Right, just like there has never been any rapes in the prisons of the shameful islamic republic during the last 30 years, no way. Nor has there ever been any torture there either. No… these saints don’t do these things.

Anyway, during the hearings he (Sharifi) notices that these people are not after the truth but are rather trying to persuade him to either take back his claim or are trying to persuade him to accept that he has received money from Karroubi in order to tell this. (they are very good at this, everybody who is against them is either a spy, has received money, or is a pervert). He than goes underground, records a tape and sends it to a documentary filmmaker (Mr. Reza Allamehzadeh) and has now managed to leave the country.

I personally salute this brave soul and regret that he and many like him have had to endure such crimes. I hope he recovers from this

A gay refugee couple from Iran have become Facebook superstars thanks to a shout-out on Humans of New York. They talk to The Daily Beast about life for Iran’s persecuted LGBT community in a country that denies their very existence. more here:

Dr. Assadollah Assadi M.D., 51 and a resident of Tabriz, is a general practitioner and a Ministry of Education retiree. He was arrested and transferred to an undisclosed location by the Intelligence Bureau of Tabriz on July 14, 2010, on his way to his office. His family had no news on his whereabouts or fate for several weeks.
Dr. Assadi spent 9 months in detention in Tabriz Intelligence Office, of which three months were spent in solitary confinement and another 6 months in the general ward.
He was then transferred to Tehran for completion of interrogation, and spent 4 months in solitary confinement of section 209 and 240 of Evin Prison (both run by the Intelligence Ministry) in horrific conditions. He was subject to sever physical and psychological torture, including having the shirt he was wearing being ironed while it was still on his body followed immediately by pouring of cold water, and repetition of this torture several times, being hanged from hands for long period of time, mock execution, beatings, sleep deprivation for long hours.
Following the 180 interrogation sessions, he suffers from severe renal problems as a result of boot kicks to his head and stomach, he has lost most of his sight due to being held in dark cells for long periods of time, and continuing beating has resulted in blood in his urine.
After enduring 9 months in security wards and suffering severe torture, he was forced to accept the [false] allegations, and made self-incriminating confessions. The charge against him was announced as “Ties with Hostile Governments”.
He was tried in section 15 of Revolutionary Court presided by Judge Salavati, was convicted, and sentenced to 10 and half years in prison on the charges of “Collaboration with Hostile Government” and apparently, “Membership in Muslim People (Khalgh-e Mosalman) party”. His sentence was reduced to 5 years on the appeal.
Following his prison sentence, people of Azerbaijan, especially from 80 of those residing in areas and villages affected by the earthquake signed a petition in which they protested the sentence and requestied his release citing humanitarian and philanthropist services of Dr. Assadi. As a result, his sentence was reduced to 3 and a half years in prison.
Now that three years have passed since imprisonment of this lesser-known prisoner of conscience, and despite suffering from serious physical and psychological health problems including nervous, cardiac, digestive, oral, sight, and neck arthritis, and despite formal registration of request for a medical furlough in Evin Prison’s clinic, Tehran Prosecutor has rejected the request for medical and treatment furlough tied to his release.

Rahim Rostami: The story that has upset me the most

******the description underneath Rahim’s pic says:Rahim Rostami during happier and safer times in Norway with his Norwegian family. Eighteen months later he was thrown out of Norway, and put in Evin prison where he was subjected to torture that he can testify.******Since I started this blog, there have been many stories that have shaken me. But there is one story of a young Kurdish boy that I have never forgotten and which I have thought about many times since I first blogged about him. The matter is so serious and so severe that it is possibly the history that has upset me the most since I started this blog. Rahim Rostami came to Norway from Iran as an unaccompanied asylum seeker. The story of how he got asylum application – despite a death sentence in a country notorious for executions of many, among others. a minor – and was handed over to the Iranian authorities by Norwegian police was shocking to many. Protests from Norwegian and international activists were met by silence and “no comment” from Immigration. And when the matter was mostly forgotten by all but activists and friends in Norway who have been terribly worried about the fate that awaited Rahim.After a few years of silence, we have now got livtegn from Rahim, today testified via Skype Tribunal of Norwegian asylum policy in Oslo. Because of what he has been through, he does not dare to say what country he is living in. Not even continent. He still lives in hiding and is understandable both physically and mentally dominated by events in recent years.I also feel that I too have been affected by what has happened to Rahim. I know that I have become more cynical and it’s much harder to have faith that justice exists in Norway. The fact that Norway is a country where the rule of law is maintained. The minors will find safety here in accordance with international agreements. That those who have been subjected to torture and inhuman treatment in their home country to get the protection they are entitled to under international conventions. The UN Refugee Convention – which Norway has ratified – have some significance. That matters so serious, so serious that Rahim’s case, be taken seriously by the Norwegian authorities.How can an unaccompanied minor boy who had been sentenced to death in Iran being sent out of Norway? Not only that, but how could PU deliver him directly to the Iranian police, with all that we know about the dangers of Iranian asylum seekers who return to the country? How could UNE drop so cheap from this case, by refusing to get kelp and just shut up until the matter was long forgotten by most? And why in the world are almost none in Norwegian media that seems the case of Rahim is worth reporting on?It is important that I add to that UNE still denies that it has happened to Rahim since he was handed over to Iranian law, or that it has something with his return from Norway to do.From information letter from Immigration:

«Claim: Rostami has sat alone in the notorious Evin prison, where the strongest regime critics placed and torture are commonplace. Evin prison has several departments, and that a person is detained in Evin is not in itself sufficient to draw conclusions about what one has been charged or which prison conditions they are subject. UNE’s research provides no basis for assuming that Rostami are isolated. On the contrary, UNE received any information to indicate that he has had several visits from his family and that they have had the opportunity to speak freely. ”

«Claim: Iran will prosecute people who have sought asylum abroad. The claim stems from a post written by a retired Supreme Court judge. UNE has not seen any place that this should be followed up by the Iranian government administration through public statements, nor that the Iranian court system, which will be responsible for the practicalities surrounding any modified approach to such matters, has affected it in their weekly press conferences . UNE has not found examples of returnees has been prosecuted or punished on this basis. There is therefore no basis for saying that this is the current Iranian law today. ”

Do you have a conscience and believes that Norway should be a country that upholds conventions we have ratified and protect the legal rights of everyone, so I ask you to read and share this post with others. Please give me a reason to believe that these things still exist in Norway.

What happened the day you were arrested?
When I went to the bank to open the account, I was asked to come back the next day at 12 with my passport. The next day I was asked to sit and wait. There sat the two police waiting for me, and put me in handcuffs. Then we would go home, grab some issues and then to Trandum.
We know nothing, replied the police when Rahim asked what happens to him now. At nine in the evening he was told that he was deported the next day to Iran.
I told the police that this passport is false, and that I had just acquired it in order to open a bank account. Police said it’s fine to send you back to this.
We sat in the plane with three police. Two of the police followed all the way to Tehran. One went off at intermediate stops Amsterdam.
The Norwegian by police handed me the Iranian police. They took my papers into another room.
Before we arrived, I pleaded that the police school just let me go as a regular traveler with my passport through customs. The police refused, and delivered me.
Two days at the Imam Khomeini airport, then to Evin prison.
First, the prison’s quarantine department, then to the prison section 8, where there are other prisoners. About 40 days there, before I was transferred to solitary confinement and interrogations began.
In the 40 days he was visited once by an uncle and a lawyer. This visit took place with glass walls, telephone. Two guards present, not sure if they listened or not. After these 40 days, the question asked was why you ran away, what did you do in a foreign country, and why did you participate in demonstrations.
I was blindfolded. One who asked that, the other two also present.
Questions were asked, and I told the truth. Every time they did not like the answers they got, the two other police / guards. Kick, beat, using cold water. I sat on a chair during interrogations.
How long did the interrogations continue?
Interrogations were every other day. I was tied with both arms, I was hung by my arms from the ceiling, both arms and legs were tied. While I was hanging, I was punched and kicked and whipped with the cable.
How long were you in solitary confinement?
Can not remember exactly, but 47 to 50 days. I had no contact with the outside world. Only a little porthole I got food through.
Is there physical evidence that you were beaten?
Right big toe is broken and the nail is gone. Also got electric shocks during interrogations, so I’ve forgotten a lot. – Also has burn marks on his face after torture.
In the first phase, where he was in solitary confinement, the lawyer said that they should follow the case to get him free. While he was in solitary confinement fik [?] he [the lawyer] was told [Rahim] would be released on bail, and when he got out, he escaped [from Iran] again . Rahim during interrogation was directly confronted with activity and photos from his political activity in Norway. The spokesperson Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam from IHR doing this interview, said it’s because the IHR has made its own investigations in this case. The indictment hanging over Rahim, and includes landsforræderei. [treason?]

Evy Ellingvåg wants to personally remind everyone that Rahim was 19 years old when he was exposed to this.

I think now even more of the others, like Rahim, are political refugees who have been returned to the Iranian regime. I am thinking especially of siblings Hamed and Samira, who no one has heard from since they were deported to Tehran just before Christmas and were arrested by Iranian police immediately. There is no sign of life from them and we have no reason to believe that they have not been subjected to the same treatment as Rahim – if not worse.

“Art for Change” : Hengameh Shahidi — Mehdi Karroubi’s advisor on women’s issues, journalist, and human rights activist — has turned her attention to art. The Financial Times reports that, after being released from Evin Prison “where she was held in solitary confinement and allegedly tortured”, art “offered her a release”. Shahidi says, “I still do not understand how a violent atmosphere has woken up a delicate part of me.”The activist hopes her paintings can help raise awareness about the approximately 200 political prisoners still behind bars, “I started my paintings with a dream of freedom and breathing in an atmosphere in which there is no fighting because both sides [the regime and the opposition] have been losers.”

summary: “”She talks of how she and her husband (who are both retired teachers) cannot afford the $600,000 bail set for temporary release of Hengameh. She wonders how an american woman’s bail was set 500,000, while the bail for Iranian woman is so much higher. She also warns that “I hold each and every official responsible should anything happen to Hengameh….My daugther is sick, and I cannot afford this bail money. This is the worst pain for a mother”. She says she only has a flat whose deed she can use as a bail. Plus, she has to pay the medical bill for all her daughter’s illnesses (once she gets out), all of which she contracted in prison. She asks to visit Tehran’s prosecutor. She’s pursuing Hengameh’s case on daily basis like a full time 9-5 job.””

According to reports published by media outlets, Sattar Beheshti was arrested by the cyber police, a subsidiary of the nation’s security forces on October 30th 2012. On November 6th, Mr Beheshti’s family was reportedly informed of his passing, requesting that his body be collected at the Kahrizak morgue. All along, the family was threatened not to speak to anyone regarding this matter.

Give that Mr. Sattar Beheshti was at Evin’s general ward 350 from October 31st 2012 to November 1st 2012 and the detainees at this ward had therefore witnessed his painful physical and psychological condition first hand, we view it our national and religious duty to inform the honorable Iranian nation of Mr. Beheshti’s background and predicament.

Sattar Beheshti was charged as a result of his criticism of the authorities of the ruling establishment in his personal blog. He told eye witnesses at Evin’s ward 350 that while in…

“”71. Having regard to all of the above, the Court concludes that there are substantial grounds for believing that the applicants would be exposed to a real risk of being subjected to treatment contrary to Article 3 of the Convention if deported to Iran in the current circumstances. Accordingly, the Court finds that the implementation of the deportation order against the applicants would give rise to a violation of Article 3 of the Convention…””

“”

FOR THESE REASONS, THE COURT UNANIMOUSLY

…

2. Holds that the deportation of the applicants to Iran would give rise to a violation of Article 3 of the Convention;

SÜDDEUTSCHE ZEITUNG – 16. Mai 2012 – Abschiebung untersagt

FINAL : 09/06/2010 This judgment has become final under Article 44 § 2 of the Convention.

ALLEGED VIOLATION OF ARTICLE 3 OF THE CONVENTION

37. The applicant claimed that deportation to Iran would subject him to a real risk of being arrested, tortured and perhaps even executed, in violation of his rights under Article 3 of the Convention which reads:

“No one shall be subjected to torture or to inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.”